AI CONTEST #1 | July 3rd - July 19th

[Sevion]

Right. Whatever. Since you're going to be like that, I'm just going to rewrite it with a timer. So you'll shut up.

 

[Powergoat]

I'm kinda stuck on one of the most basic rules. Am I allowed to "know" that I am against another hero, I.E may I refer to him as a variable (contestant[1]).

For example, if the other hero is visible to me, can I order my hero to attack him through the "Order a unit to attack another unit" trigger.

Or need I find him first in order to store him in a variable? Also, do I need to use the "right click" trigger instead of the "attack" trigger? I think right click stops when out of vision whilst attack doesn't. Kinda answers my own question lol.

 

[Andrewgosu]

The "contestant" variable is for the judges, to set up the experience giving and multiboard.

You have to determine a way to attack, follow etc. your enemy yourself - remember, this has to work on any map and with more than 1 enemy.

If there's a draw, all the AIs that share the equal position are put to the map...

 

[Powergoat]

Ah, I see... Thank you for the quick reply.
Another question, how like us to send the maps to you?

 

[Andrewgosu]

We'll probably make a submission-only thread, where you can upload your map, when the deadline nears.

 

[No_exit]

We'll probably make a submission-only thread, where you can upload your map, when the deadline nears.

If I saw a thread like that, I'd prolly abuse it to tweak my AI to make sure I can win against all currently submitted AIs and submit my AI at the last second (and most likely forget to actually submit it and end up losing the AI contest ).

You are not allowed to check whether a target is an illusion via triggers.

Are we allowed to monitor the damage that the units do and this way see that the illusions are the ones that do 0 damage, or if we damage the unit, we get a higher then normal damage?
(Ok I guess some people might forget to remove this information of who is the illusion if the illusion gets out of sight or if new illusions are summoned and risk getting DSQ.)

You are not allowed to do pathing checks. You must issue your hero to move to the desired location - if he cannot move there, he cannot move there.

No GetTerrainCliffLevel either? Tree placement checks? (if not then are we allowed to keep track where the (visible units) have been and also what path the hero follows when issued a move order?
Example: if you order him to go somewhere and the hero starts to face the other way around to where you ordered you know there is some big obstacle near him.)

What kind of awards are there ...

You can add "Most exciting battle award" to the 2 heroes that participated in it.
Or "Manslayer" for beating Andrew and Romek in 1v1 mirror matchups .

Because it is known that 90% of the triggering takes place two days before the deadline, really...

No.

Other question:
If we see only the target location/unit of an ability or only the casting hero but not the target location, are we allowed to ask the spellID of that ability?

 

[Sevion]

No_Exit, all submitted AI's are required to be zipped and passworded.

Some award ideas:

Juggernaut - The hero who recieves the most total damage overall from all matches.
The Robot - The hero who repeats an action the most times. (Accumulated over all matches)
The Ninja - Most hidden attacks (Attacks when fogged OR invisible.)
Killing Spree - Most wins in a row.
Double Kill - Two wins in a row.
Triple Kill - Three wins in a row.
Dominator - Person who wins all of his matches.
Kamakazi - Kill your an oponnent after he has killed you.
Micro Master - Person with the best microing AI (Judges' Opinion)
Twin Killer - Kills an oponnent with the same hero as you.
Speed King - Person with the least time spent in the ring with at least 3 wins. (Number of wins is optional).
Murder Maniac - Person who kills an opponent in the strangest way.
Iron Skin - Win a round losing a maximum of 10% of your life. (Can be awarded at the same time as Untouchable [Optional])
Untouchable - Win a round without taking any damage.
Don't Move A Muscle - At any point in a match, stand still for 3 minutes. (Number of minutes is optional).
Raising The Dead - Raise 100 corpses in one match.
Secret Hiding Spot - Stay out of enemy sight for 3 minutes. (Number of minutes is optional).
Oooh! We're half way there! Oooh! - Win half of your matches. (Name taken from Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer )
Spontaneous - Win 3 matches with a RANDOM hero.
In Sight Of Savior - Die while close to a healing fountain OR kill an opponent while he/she is close to a healing fountain.
Long Shot - Kill an opponent with your hero while the opponent is farther away than your attack range.

More to come...

 

[13lade619]

...my hero basically walks around randomly.. lulz..

i worked on my ai last weekend, i have exams on monday..

probably will submit tomorrow or wednesday.

 

[Sevion]

Mine works on a circuit ^_^

 

[13lade619]

i cant imagine that there will be some uber complicated codes..
'cause everybody is asking about getting so much info on the other hero..

mine just runs and kills..... disregarding anything about the other hero .

 

[Steel]

Are we allowed to get the bounds of the map?

Also you have to allow us the ability to check movespeed, you have no method of checking if a unit is snared or not unless you want us to hardcode in every condition for every ability that can snare by means of a buff check.

Given a lot of the questions that are unanswered (aside from my own) I don't think some AI would act fairly against others fearing a DQ due to some coding.

Restricting the hero base would be a good idea, you did this, but not enough. Say I'm going against the Crypt Lord and I want my unit to run away from him when he casts Locust Swarm. I would need to be able to detect and act that he casts that. If the Dreadlord casts Inferno, same thing, I need to be able to detect this and act accordingly, yes you can see a unit is there, but still. More examples: Blood Mage's Flame Strike...I need to know when the ability casts when it does, I detect its location of placement and then check if my unit is standing on it, if it is...I have to move out. I could go on and do this all day.

There are far too many abilities to handle for in this short amount of time.

 

[BRUTAL]

you could like make an integer array variable and group similar abilities id's together and do something like
set i[0] = flamestrike
i[1] = blizzard
...
i[9] = locust swarm

then in your ai put an if/then to see if the enemy casted a spell equal to or less then i[9]
and since they are all aoe-ish; run

 

[Andrewgosu]

What happened to the good ol' receive-damage&do-health-check&run-away thing?...

 

[Sevion]

But that's not smart enough.

Btw. I'm pulling out. I don't want to recode my AI to work with Romek's pc.

 

[N2o)]

i cant imagine that there will be some uber complicated codes..
'cause everybody is asking about getting so much info on the other hero..

mine just runs and kills..... disregarding anything about the other hero .

mine just runs

 

[monoVertex]

mine just runs

Mine just runs in an idiotic way . Had no time to work on it since I started, but I will get to it now.

You have to determine a way to attack, follow etc. your enemy yourself - remember, this has to work on any map and with more than 1 enemy.

But, I am able to do a configuration trigger in which you set up my variable to my own Hero, so the code I make can actually know which one is the Hero it has to work for, right?

 

[N2o)]

Do graveyards really need to block line of sight, you cant see all the corpses if your stood in 1 point.

You have to determine a way to attack, follow etc. your enemy yourself - remember, this has to work on any map and with more than 1 enemy.

Does it matter if it doesnt work with more than 1 enemy? I cant be bothered to change stuff now.

 

[Andrewgosu]

But, I am able to do a configuration trigger in which you set up my variable to my own Hero, so the code I make can actually know which one is the Hero it has to work for, right?

Yes, you can.

Do graveyards really need to block line of sight, you cant see all the corpses if your stood in 1 point.

That's now fixed.

Does it matter if it doesnt work with more than 1 enemy? I cant be bothered to change stuff now.

You can leave it as it is, if you wish.

Though, in the case of a draw, you're going to be in trouble.

 

[Steel]

What happened to the good ol' receive-damage&do-health-check&run-away thing?...

The problem is if I'm getting hit by a Flamestrike I can move to the enemy unit to avoid taking damage assuming that enemy isn't in it as well. Whereas if I'm being hit by a Locust Swarm, I want to avoid it at all costs.

Sure I could create a stupid chicken AI, but what fun is that? Its not smart.

 

[gameman]

I just found out about this today and boy am I pissed about that. Now I have less time than others!